What happens when a political news satirist announces on his fake television news show that he is running for president? Sounds like the plot for a bad movie (Man of the Year), but it happened tonight as Stephen Colbert announced his candidacy for president Tuesday night on his Comedy Central television show, The Colbert Report. The mock conservative claims that he will be running under both parties: Democratic and Republican, claiming it took considerable guts because he could “lose twice.”

This comes after weeks of comically refusing to disclose whether he would run for office. In a guest column for Maureen Dowd in Sunday’s New York Times, Colbert wrote: “I am not ready to announce yet – even though it’s clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative.”

This is an interesting turn of events because no one knows how far he might take this stunt. Colbert is championed by the YouTube and Wikipedia generation, and it will be interesting to see where his fans may take this. Check out the video of his announcement after the jump.